Musings of an Orbi Firmware Update

Hi jeberhawk 

The Orbi app or the admin page on the router won't report a new version is available until Netgear formally mark as production release, even though you can manually find the new release on their support downloads page. They do an early release first. My Orbi was reporting no updates but I found the new one and proceeded manually like you. 

I have recently updated my RBR50v2 and RBS50v2 from the same version as you to that same newer one as you, but my outdoor satellite is still on the older version as Netgear hasn't released the newer version for the outdoor satellite yet. I tried the RBS firmware but it rejected it so the indoor and outdoor use a different image file. I got a bit confused in the update menus with selecting the correct image file for the RBR versus the RBS but they reject the wrong one. The tick boxes are not immediately intuitive in the update process so I think I once updated the RBR first when you should do the RBS first. 

I always update my router and indoor satellite from the admin page via a browser on my Mac and not the Orbi app as I prefer to be more directly in control. I use the Orbi apps lots for observations but not for updates. If find this easiest provided I do the satellite first. I have never needed to factory reset like others seem to require or prefer to completely do a fresh install. I always take a backup first. I usually power cycle them afterwards and restart the Orbi app to force it to refresh and flush stuff. Sometimes a satellite doesn't sync quickly after a reboot but leaving it 5 mins sorts it or I manually sync from the admin page and follow the instructions.

I lost internet completely after an update last year but this was fixed by rebooting my ISP's fibre NTU that Ethernet connects to my RBR50, so the uplink WAN auto negotiation must have got confused by the update. Mostly though everything comes back after power cuts (DIY jobs on the house) and the satellite's eventually sync on their own - it's not always immediately, may be 5 unless I force a sync. I sometimes need to kill the Orbi app on the iPhone and reopen to refresh it after a system reboot. 

jeff